While Niagara residents may be wondering if amalgamation of the region’s 12 cities and towns could be a future reality, the mayors of most of the region’s smaller cities and towns are flipping that idea on its head with a new proposal this week.

They’re calling for Premier Doug Ford to consider having core services handled by Niagara’s regional government rolled into more locally run agencies or boards.

Regional Chair Bob Gale dropped a bombshell on Feb. 19 when he told regional council members in a letter that he planned to push to have the current dozen municipalities amalgamated into either one big city or four cities.

Gale told provincial Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack in a separate letter that same day that regional taxes in Niagara have skyrocketed nearly 25 per cent in just three years, something he called an “egregious affront to taxpayers.”

Regional council hit back at Gale on Feb. 26, with the majority telling him to hit the brakes on talk of amalgamation while at the same time they opted to initiate a governance review to root out duplication of services and find efficiencies. 

But in a joint letter sent to Ford on Wednesday, the mayors of eight smaller cities and towns went much further, calling in a “unified voice” for core services delivered at the Region to be possibly localized.

For instance, they called for:

• Establishing one or more public corporations to oversee water and sewer treatment. 
• Subject to a financial review, transitioning regional roads and other regional services such as public health, social services and the paramedic service to locally owned public service boards.
• Reducing the number of municipal politicians.

“These reforms reflect what our residents have told us directly: they want governance that is efficient, affordable, locally accountable, and reflective of the unique character of Niagara’s small and rural communities,” the mayors said in their letter.

‘Municipalities can do it cheaper’

The letter does not mention the Niagara Regional Police Service, which eats up a huge chunk of the Region’s budget but which is overseen by a separate board.

Pelham Mayor Marvin Junkin, one of the eight mayors, told CBC that the Region could potentially be “substantially” downsized piecemeal.

That process could take two to three years, Junkin said. “This isn’t going to be done in months.”

Junkin said the eight mayors firmly believe downsizing the Region could save taxpayers money.

“None of the eight mayors support amalgamation but we do support looking at governance in the whole of Niagara to see where there are savings to be had, especially at the [regional] level,” he said.

“I do believe if we do our business analysis we’ll find savings and that the municipalities can do it cheaper than how it’s being done at the Region.” 

Junkin said it’s critical to not rush any downsizing of the Region.

“We don’t want to make mistakes that we have to live with for the next 50 years,” he said. Several mayors contacted by CBC said public input must be central to any governance changes.

“I would absolutely not make a decision of this magnitude without consulting my [township] council colleagues and input from the residents who would be impacted by this decision,” said West Lincoln Mayor Cheryl Ganaan.

Gale, meanwhile, wrote Flack on Wednesday to suggest that, in time for this fall’s municipal elections, regional council be slashed in size from 32 members to just the 12 mayors and a regional chair, and the total number of other municipal politicians in Niagara be reduced based on a population formula.